SVFF 2016

I was heading up the country early Sunday morning.

While The Mister was doing his intense football watching thing I took the day off from home improvement and went to the fair.

It was the first nice day we've had in ages. It was not sweater or wool sock weather but it was comfortable enough to be outside. Hallelujah.

 I browsed but was not tempted by the fleece sale. The shed is full as it was too hot to think about washing anything this summer.

 There was plenty of yarn to be tempted by.

 There are always lots of bunnies here. The couple walking out ahead of me had a bunny in a box that they had just purchased.

 Instead on one old camel, this year we got two young ones.

 There's not many sheep or goats to look at. This fest isn't about the livestock as much as it is about buying stuff.

 I love this vendor's set up. It's always too crowded to get close enough to see what's up.

 There were lots of baskets at this festival. You can't have enough of these.

 My first purchase was some fiber. BFL and mulberry silk to be exact. Someone just gifted me a pattern-more about that on a later post-but this is the fiber I will spin for it. I bought it from Fiber-ing at Callaluna Farms Studios. I almost had a breakdown trying to decide on a colorway, they were all so gorgeous.

 You knew I had to go back and get one of those baskets. My second purchase was this itty bitty one that matches my big one. I picked it up from Twin Birch Products who had the best prices.

 I walked my legs off looking for sock yarn. My rule is that I can't buy from the same vendors that I bought from last year and I'm running out of new sock yarn vendors. This is a kinky superwash Merino sock yarn from Unplanned Peacock in the Canyonlands colorway.

On the way home I stopped at my favorite farm stand.

 They usually have the best apples and produce you can find but it wasn't so this year. There was very little to choose from.

 There were plenty of nice pumpkins and yard doo dads but I wanted apples. Real apples.

I picked out three that seemed promising but they weren't. It must have been a tough summer for farmers. I know it was for me.

Proceed With Caution

 I know I've mentioned it here several times.

I even put it on the labels. Now that people are beginning to receive their soap boxes, I am starting to worry about the risk of falls. These things are powerful. They are full of butters, oils and milks and meant for only the driest part of your anatomy. Daughter who insists on putting them in the tub and having an allover soak had a near miss the other night. These things are slippery with a capital S and can make quite a mess. I'm in the process of finding a new recipe for Daughter who wants a good, safe tub soak, which these are most certainly not.

The safest way to use them is to put them in a basin or bucket in the tub, give your feet a long, hot soak, rinse well and then use a squirt of dish washing soap for the tub and basin cleanup. I love them but am very careful about using them AND I certainly don't want to read about anyone getting hurt. Got it?

The State of the Stash

 Whenever I show the stash room someone always comments that they would love to see my stash. Here goes. First the roving. My beautiful babies. I have two shelves full.

 I've got baskets filled with itty bitty yarn. Jamieson, Malabrigo, Elann, and lots of other lace weight in small balls.

 I've got cones of kitchen cotton.

 I've got a huge hat box filled with more. I forgot I had it.

 I've got a shelf of weaving kits from my towel of the month club.

 I've got two shelves dedicated to all the Knit Pick kits I have fallen for.

 I've got lots of bins of Knit Picks and Elann yarns in worsted. I plan a project, buy the yarn and lose interest before I even start.

 I've got a big bin of leftover sock yarn waiting for a project.

 I've got tons of Palette.

 There are several bins of a little of this and a little of that. I've got single skein syndrome. I see a skein, I buy one and then it becomes a pet instead of a project.

 I've got kits I made myself of projects I plan on doing one day. Maybe. Maybe not.

I've got a needs-to-be-carded fiber stash on the drum carder stand and lots more in the closet.

I've finally got all that washed fleece under control. A lot of junk went out in the trash.

Here is my newly cleaned out stash closet. There's another shelf above this one filled with neatly organized boxes of sweater yarn in large quantities just in case I am snowed in for the rest of my life. I've got tubs and tubs of handspun. Those hangy things are filled with leftover bits from spinning projects. They get carded into projects when I'm in the mood to make something crazy.

 Just as I was near a breakdown having to wrangle all this fibery goodness, The Mister comes in from the mailbox with a package. More yarn, of course. That's just sad but I saw someone's Felici socks and I just had to have a pair plus a little more. Sick. I know but it gets worse....today I'm off to a fiber fest. Oh, my.

Broken Record

 Yesterday was painting day-again. Here is the contents of the stash room stuffed into the new wall unit and spread out all over the living room. This isn't everything. I'm not touching the closet. I just cleaned it out and reorganized it and it looks fine.

The now empty stash room is getting a fresh coat of paint and the addition of two more Ikea bookshelves. I sent The Mister on the errand today while I did the painting. Four rooms down and one to go. I can't wait. If I don't get things back in order around here soon I'm going to go crazy.

Random Ramblings

 Yesterday I drove around all day doing stuff. Did you know that Wawa has the most delicious apple cider doughnuts ever? I've stood in line for them at Rhinebeck but these take the cake. Literally. A giant yummo.
 I also am in love with Wawa's soda machine that lets you add flavors to your diet soda. I don't drink one often but when I do it's nice to add a little cherry to it.

 Next, I am going to whine about the weather again. That's the car AC on full blast in September. The house AC is still blasting away too. I need the heat AND the humidity to go away. Not one or the other. BOTH.

 Then I have a note to myself. BUY the darn Pumpkin Spice coffee when it comes out in August. If you wait while trying to make up your mind if you want it, this is all you will find and we don't have one of those machines. I am going to have to dump the cup every morning into the coffee maker.

 In my travels I found a whole bunch of these little coloring kits for Daddio at Micheal's. He was very proud of his work last night. They are easier for him than regular coloring books.

 While he colored, I got a few more inches on the new sock.

 Thanks for all your well wishes for Old Doggie. She has spent the entire summer in a cone of shame because of her terrible allergies and that was probably the reason her ears were such a mess. To keep her from chewing herself raw, I stuffed her in a baby Onesie with the hands sewn shut. She loves it. It seems to calm her down. She licks at it for a few minutes and then rolls over and goes to sleep. She's so cute in it that it's all I can do to keep from picking her up and rocking her-but she would hate that. She's not the cuddly type.

Finally, look at that! I got my new phone activated all by myself and am on the way to figuring out how to use it. I'm not much of a phone person so my biggest dilemma is really how to carry this monster around without breaking it. I've ordered a case but I don't seem to have a place in any of my bags for it to safely live while I cart it around. Any advice?

Special Deliveries

 Early yesterday morning a big white truck came down the driveway with 6 big boxes for me.

 Then the UPS guy came down it with this little one.

 The truck brought the replacement for this old TV stand and UPS brought my new phone.

The Mister and I spent the day up to our elbows in nuts and bolts.

We made the house an even bigger mess than it already is.

 I helped. I like doing this. I hate screwdrivers.

By the time it got too dark to see what we were doing we had this much done on my new Ikea Hemnes wall unit. We would have gotten further but the Old Doggie has an ear infection so we had a vet visit that took hours and $300 out of our pockets. Ouf. Tomorrow we will tackle the bridge unit that goes across the top but that's a job for daylight. As for my new smartphone, it's charging. I'm going to try and set it up after things quiet down. I have to do it right this time.